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• I Don't Think I Missed Much: Beyond Oasis

  Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection has proved invaluable in helping me patch the gaming gaps inflicted by my childhood loyalty to Nintendo. Aside from suffering at the hands of Altered Beast, I've been working my way through Beyond Oasis. Beyond Oasis is an action-RPG that was released in 1995, a particularly rich vein of gaming history. Its top-down sword-swinging action is most often compared to The Legend of Zelda, though the large sprites, interchangeable weapons and focus on fighting over puzzle-solving remind me more of Secret of Mana. With Secret of Mana being one of my very favourite instruments of torture video games, you would think that I'd latch right on to the Sega Genesis alternative about an Arabian boy with blue eyes and blonde hair. Alas, it has just not been so. Beyond Oasis works well as a distraction to pick at while waiting for my potatoes to boil, but something about it feels hollow. It feels strange to make this discovery, because I spent a lot of energy pretending not to care when the first big, beautiful screenshots of Beyond Oasis hit game magazines. Read More... Posted Apr 14 2009, 09:16 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: legend of zelda, retro, 16-bit, sega genesis, nadia oxford, secret of mana, beyond oasis

• Licensing Tragedies: Sonic Live!

  Topless Robot hosted a contest for the worst single-issue comic of all time. It was a tough call, but a winner emerged. Now for the surprise: Sonic the Hedgehog is involved. In the year 20XX, Archie put out a single-issue “comic” called “Sonic Live!” More accurately, “Sonic Live! The Last Game Cartridge Hero!” I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about that title. The Sonic the Hedgehog comic is actually extremely long-lived, and like any creature of slow mortality, it's taken some pretty regrettable turns. “Sonic Live!” probably marks the series' deepest plunge, but I doubt you need me to elaborate. Just think of a genuinely exciting example of real-life kids teaming up with cartoon characters who tumbled out of the television. Take your time; I'll go make a big sandwich. Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 11:57 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: sonic the hedgehog, sega genesis, nadia oxford, licensing tragedies, sonic live

• Confessions of the Young and Stupid: I Almost Bought a Genesis For Moonwalker

  When the Sega Genesis came on the scene, there were specific game advertisements or previews that made kids look at their 8-bit Nintendo with new doubt. Some children started paying attention to the Genesis when Altered Beast wose from its gwave. Others started pulling on their mom's arm for Sonic the Hedgehog. The first game that gave me “console envy” was Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. If you're nodding with me right now, you're around my age and you understand me. If you're snickering, you're a young punk and gerroff my lawn. When I was a kid, the name “Michael Jackson” made kids' eyes light up. Promises of special trips to Neverland Ranch and all the candy we could eat weren't necessary; Michael was just that cool. Everyone wanted to be Michael. He could dance, he could perform and damn it all, he put together Thriller. Moonwalker was cool, too. At the time, it made perfect sense to me that Michael's demigod essence could not be contained by the dinky Nintendo; no, it would take nothing less than a 16-bit temple. The in-game playlist was enough to stop a kid's heart: Bad, Billie Jean and Thriller to name a few (though we did get stiffed pretty bad Thriller-wise, since the music didn't show up where you'd expect it to—hello, graveyard? Zombies?). But once you stripped (!!!) the suave suit and hat from Moonwalker, it wasn't much beyond a mediocre platformer with a big name and Bubbles face-sitting action. Read More... Posted Jan 09 2009, 10:17 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, super mario bros 3, music, nes, retro, 16-bit, nostalgia, sega genesis, nadia oxford, michael jackson, moonwalker

• Whatcha Playing: Spinning GameTap’s Wheel

  Talking about the greatest games gone by has made me realize something: I am totally over this release season. My two most anticipated games, Fallout 3 and Mirror’s Edge, have come, been played out, and re-shelved, and I have a feeling very little will touch those two titles in terms of uniqueness and ambition. Normally I would turn to my 360 backlog in this situation, but the NXE is actually turning me off to the system (my verdict: they made some cute fluffy characters for the grandma demographic, then put them in front of a sickeningly ad-riddled interface that will look to grandma like the deck of the Enterprise. Yes, the best part is the blade-based guide system, but that used to be the entire dashboard. The whole thing is an exercise in corporate cynicism, flushing a well-meaning and needed update straight down the tubes). So instead I’ll turn to the next best thing, GameTap. I love GameTap because it gives me access to a lot of weird, weird games for a monthly fee that is unreasonably low. It also has this little GottaGettaGame spinner which picks something out at random for you. This is by far the best thing about the service. So let’s give it a spin and see what I have to play today:   Awesome, something I’ve never heard of. Time to do some research! Read More... Posted Nov 24 2008, 03:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: japan scares me, sega genesis, joe keiser, air hockey, gametap

• Looks Great, Tastes Bad: The '90s and its Crop of Unbalanced Games

  "Earthworm Jim is on the Virtual Console today!" exclaims a message board thread somewhere in Gamer Town. In seconds, nostalgia draws traffic to the post like a purring queen draws kittens to the teat. "Oh, this game was so awesome," a poster named Billy declares. "They don't make games like this anymore." That's right, little Billy. They don't. I'm sort of glad about that because I don't think my heart can endure mass doses of disappointment anymore. Though Japanese games ruled the sixteen bit era, American developers were finding their legs as well. And oh, what a pair of legs they found. Games like Aladdin on the Genesis, The Lion King and Earthworm Jim looked and sounded brilliant. They are, in my opinion, still some of the best-looking games out there in spite of running on 24 megs of memory as opposed to today's standard of a hojillion gigabytes. I still love watching people play Earthworm Jim because the title has so much love and personality in every frame of animation. There's the rub: I like to watch (tee hee). I don't actually like to play Earthworm Jim--or Aladdin--or The Lion King--because the games are consistently and unfairly difficult, sometimes for the most baffling reasons. When Earthworm Jim fires his standard weapon, you can't see the spray of bullets. Even the lowliest of crows will dodge your invisible fire half the time despite being directly above you, but there's no possible way to correct your aim because you can't see where you're aiming. Read More... Posted Oct 29 2008, 04:16 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: earthworm jim, super nintendo, 16-bit, nostalgia, sega genesis, nadia oxford, the 90s, aladdin, lion king

• Ecco the Dolphin: Was This Game Ever Considered Fun?

  I usually don't have any trouble tossing a bad game on the street with a suitcase full of its clothes. But over my long bitter life I've played a handful of games that I desperately want to love, but alas, cannot because they're abusive. But I keep letting them back into my home because I convince myself that maybe they've changed. At the forefront of Team Uneasy is Sega's Ecco the Dolphin. Ecco was an exciting critter to have around in 1992; our generation was gung-ho about saving the Earth and a game about a dolphin was an imaginative idea (because plumbers that don raccoon suits and fly is just a bit mundane). Ecco the Dolphin puts a watery spin on platforming with your main worry being the danger of drowning rather than jumping over bottomless pits. Even the story is compelling (it's a fish story! Ha!). Instead of running down a lost princess, Ecco must find his lost pod, which was sucked up by an ocean-hoovering alien race. Ecco travels through caverns, braves the frigid Arctic waters and studies the ruins of Atlantis before he goes back in time to challenge the dolphin-eaters. I dig dolphins. Dolphins are probably the only species on Earth that enjoy life to the very fullest. I love the idea of a game that lets you dart and frisk around in warm tropical waters because God knows I'm not going to be able to afford a vacation anytime soon. That's where Ecco the Dolphin fails, though: you don't dart, frisk and jump. Actually, you do for one fraction of the opening stage and it's a thrill. Then the Oceanwide Tragedy happens, the music darkens to indicate serious business and suddenly you're creeping slowly through thick herds of jellyfish like a sullen commuter on Monday evening. Read More... Posted Aug 21 2008, 06:01 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: sega, retro, 16-bit, challenge, ecco the dolphin, sea life, dolphins, sega genesis, environment